Nashville Music Blog

Springsteen at Municipal Auditorium on July, 21 1978.

​Bruce Springsteen and Chipotle come to town within a week of each other. Holy hell, how the gods have smiled upon Nashville as of late. While the 45-minute wait to get a goddamn burrito tells me that Chipotle is likely long for Music City, Springsteen's time in town will be finite. If you read my preview of the-only-boss-I-listen-to's show at the Sommet Center tonight in this week's print edition of the Scene, then you'll know that this may very well be your last chance to catch the greatest fuckin' show you'll ever see.

This might surprise you, but Springsteen is NOT my favorite artist of all-time. That distinction belongs to The Clash. The thing is, I can't go see The Clash live...ever. I can't even see Joe Strummer. I will lament that cold hard fact 'til the day I die. I can, however, see the Boss. You see, you've got to take advantage of the chance to see legends while they're still living. Even if you don't get Springsteen (yet), you should make it out to tonight's show simply as an insurance policy, in case you ever DO become a fan after it's too late. It's a matter of pragmatism.

I have no doubt that, by now, many of you have grown tired of my obsessing over my favorite living rock 'n' roll superhero. As I ready myself for my 15th, and perhaps final, Springsteen show, you can all rest assured that my need to preach the gospel will subside until Bruce and his ministry of rock 'n' roll feel the need to come around again. That being said, I'm pretty psyched to see another Bruce show among friends and in my backyard, so let me have my moment.

You see, for as long as I can remember, I've always been a die-hard fan of rock music. From seeing countless shows by my favorite bands to collecting bootlegs, watching rock-docs and reading debaucherous bios, I fully understand and practice super-fan compulsion. While I can't help but notice that most bands are terrible and that their fans suffer from neurological disorders that result in their sheepish allegiance and laughable completism, I identify with them nonetheless. For that reason I can always appreciate musings and anecdotes from the fan perspective.

Springsteen at Municipal Auditorium on July, 21 1978.

​Springsteen fans are known as tramps. The phenomenon of his cult appeal began to reach critical mass on the tour supporting his 1978 release Darkness on the Edge of Town. Colloquially known as the "Darkness Tour," it was his first nationwide jaunt headlining arenas, and the tour on which he and the E Street Band became legendary for their marathon performances. This included his first large-scale show at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium on Jul. 21, 1978. He'd previously played the Opry, of all places, and before that a pair of "painfully empty" shows opening for Freddie King at Muther's Emporium in 1974. Some audio for that is posted on YouTube. Because I can, I'll post one of the clips below. Here's another factoid: Springsteen's first ever trip to Nashville was in 1970 with his then-band Steel Mill. They opened for Roy Orbison at the Centennial Park Band Shell.

Later came another show at Municipal--on the River Tour--a legendary Born in the U.S.A.-era show at MTSU's Murphy Center in 1984, a solo performance at The Ryman in '96, stops at what is now known as the Sommet Center in 2000 and 2008 and, of course, Bonnaroo. While you're likely to hear great stories from any of these performances, it's the 1978 Darkness show that is by far Middle Tennessee's most fabled. The most famous story to come from this show is one Elvis Costello told at a 1996 taping of VH1's Storytellers. Where he revealed that his 1980 classic "Temptation" was inspired by seeing (and presumably meeting) Springsteen at Municipal Auditorium. On a separate occasion he had this to say about that fateful night:

It's really hard to fall in love with someone from row 97..... This here song is a song I wrote in 1978 in Nashville, TN, I was in row 97 actually, at a concert by a very famous American rock singer, and I was looking at him and thinking, 'Wow, this is getting tough for this guy'. I know he's real, but it's getting like he's not allowed to be real anymore. I said 'That'll never happen to me. Fame will never go to my head.'

As I watched Springsteen and Costello duet on a cover of Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" at Madison Square Garden last week, I couldn't help but be reminded of how one inspired the other mere miles from my home. Check out some awesome footage of that excellent NYC performance below.

Recently I received a copy of a book titled The Light in Darkness. Compiled by photographer Lawrence Kirsch, the book is an oral history recounting the entire Darkness tour, using fan accounts and excellent photos from each show. I'm posting pictures from the Municipal stop for anyone who might've actually been there to witness it. Hopefully those folks will be at the Sommet Center tonight as well. If you're interested in checking out the The Light in Darkness book, you can order it here. Tickets to see Springsteen at the Sommet Center tonight are still available. Get them here for as little as $35. Seriously, don't fuck this up. Go to the show. Look for me and my "Streets of Fire" request sign.